The Garden
by EvilMicella
Summary: DH SPOILERS. One death, one family. The garden would seem fit to say how the loss affected them.


**The Garden**

_This story contains spoilers from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Please do not read if you wish to remain spoil-free!_

**Full summary:** A week had passed since Fred's funeral, and the Weasleys gather around the garden late at night, reliving memories.

**Note**: I've been oddly depressed about Fred's death in the 7th book. J.K Rowling didn't exactly get into detail about how the Weasley family felt about it (probably horror/anger/sadness of course, but you know what I mean) so I wrote this to get an understanding down in words. I hope you like, and please review!

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Percy put his hand to his mouth, letting out a quiet yet wide yawn as he made his way down the stairs carefully. Everyone in the house was asleep, so he thought it would have been better to just manually get to the kitchen instead of causing a loud "pop" from apparating.

This was mainly due to the fact that the entire Weasley family needed their sleep, especially after the past week.

Closing his eyes, Percy realized that tomorrow, though technically today, as his bedroom clock had read three in the morning, would be a week since Fred's… departure. It was still hard to say what was true. The funeral was only two days ago, yet it felt far longer. Sometimes it even seemed as though it never happened; that it was all just some sort of horrible dream.

With a saddened sigh, Percy continued into the kitchen, turning on the light to lead his way through carefully. He pulled out a glass cup from the cupboard, and filled it with cold water that almost poured over the rim at his moment daze. Getting up in the middle of the night had become rather routine for him. It was either too hot or too quiet to fall asleep. Sometimes he just couldn't stay still in one spot for too long of a time; tonight was a perfect example.

Percy made his way slowly into the living room and looked around. It was scattered with a mixture of muggle and magical devices. At one end was a phone, next to it a pot of Floo powder. On the table was a bunch of screws and bolts, most likely due to the courtesy of Harry's gifts to Mr. Weasley, but they were half covered with an old copy of The Daily Prophet. On the wall were a few unmoving muggle pictures and a bewitched clock that told the location of each family member.

All the hands were pointed to "home," Percy noticed, keeping his eyes away from Fred's hand. However, there was a missing hand from home, and he scrunched his eyes as he took a closer look. Ron's hand was not, of course, pointed at "home," but instead was on "garden."

Considering the clock never broke, Percy decided to investigate. It was a cold night, so he was quite curious why his youngest brother was outside in the garden, of all places. He grabbed his lightest coat and quietly opened the side door that led to the backyard. Blindly leading himself, he shortly came upon the small garden and felt quite lucky to see Ron's bright red hair that was able to guide him closer. The younger brother was lying on his back, his long arms crossed underneath his head to prop himself up in a more comfortable position.

"It's a bit late to be out here, don't you think?"

Ron, startled, let out a yelp at Percy's sudden appearance. He propped himself up on his elbows, squinting his eyes to see who was talking to him.

"Percy, that you?"

"Yeah," said boy replied, taking a seat to Ron's right. There was a silence of content as the two brothers gazed up at the stars. Percy's eyes adjusted to the dark sky, now allowing him to see a more detailed picture of the garden. It was mainly made up of different types of flowers arranged in a neat pattern. The flowers, and grass surrounding them, were tall enough for the gnomes to hide away from the cold and wind. Those were the main reasons the gnomes still inhabited the Weasley's yard, despite what they went through during degnoming. After a few moments of this much needed quiet, Percy spoke up and asked his question.

"Why are you out here of all places?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ron give off a small shrug for his answer. Another bout of silence passed over them as a cricket quietly let itself be known in the distance.

"Fred spent a lot of time out here degnoming the garden, you know?"

Percy gave a small smile, remembering almost each instance where he passed by the kitchen window only to see his younger twin brothers in the garden, a look of annoyance on each of their faces. He never hesitated to give them his own mini lecture that went along nicely with their mother's.

"Yeah, well, he did a lot of stuff he shouldn't have, as did George."

It was now Ron's turn to smile, then giving out a laugh he replied, "Like the time Fred gave me a Acid Pop and burned a hole straight through my tongue. I think that's when Fred and George learned to be discrete about their jokes, after mum got to 'em."

"I guess I got off easy. None of their jokes caused me physical pain," Percy replied.

A rustle off grass made Percy and Ron look over to their left, neither as jumpy as before when they were each alone. They thought it may have been a gnome since it was a quiet rustle, but just as before, the signature red hair of a Weasley was able to tell them otherwise. Their oldest brother Bill, hair, as always, tied back but his ear now lacking the fang earring, stood before the two with a questioning look on his face. His hands were in his coat pockets as he looked down at his two brothers.

"I was wondering why you two were out here," Bill said, answering an unasked question as he moved closer to them so he didn't have to talk so loudly that he may cause the other Weasley's to awake. "I never really thought mum's clock would come in handy."

"Couldn't sleep?" Ron asked, now lying back down against the chilly grass. Percy, on the other hand, decided to stay seated cross legged.

"No, I was going to use the rest room and I saw the kitchen light on," Bill replied, quietly taking a seat next to Ron's other side. His voice was soft but what little could be seen of his eyes, they showed a slight strictness; he was, after all, most like their mother.

Usually Percy would have admitted right away that the light was his doing, but decided to keep quiet, letting Bill continue. "That's when I saw both of your clock hands pointed to the garden, so I decided to see join this little party." He gave a smile, trying to lighten the mood, just as he had been doing around everyone the past week. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"Just talking about…" Ron started, but wasn't quite sure how to finish. Fred's death was still a fresh wound on the family. Yet Percy seemed to pull himself through and finished what his brother started. He was after all, one of the most mature of all the Weasleys.

"Fred."

Bill nodded, his eyes less strict as the understanding came in. A sudden smile came to his face as he surrendered to the thoughts he tried to hide for quite some time.

"I remember when Fred and George were just four, and I was off to Hogwarts for the first time, they snuck onto the train after me. If mum hadn't been screaming like a banshee at them, it would have been quite the family moment. Not that any harm was done, really, since that was back in their 'innocent' days."

"They had innocent days?" Percy and Ron asked simultaneously. Bill let out a laugh, though the other two had been serious about their question.

"Of course they did," Bill answered. "At least, as innocent as they've ever been."

A few more crickets sounded off in the distance accompanied by rustles of grass caused by the gnomes. For as early as it was, there was a fair amount of awakened life. Bill finally joined Ron in lying on the grass, though Percy still remained sitting.

"They did everything together, didn't they? Fred and George?" Ron asked quietly, the past evidence of laughter dying slowly. "I can't remember a time where they weren't together."

"Neither can I," Bill commented, resting his arms on top of his stomach for a more comfortable position. There really wasn't much that he could do on dirt and grass to keep himself feeling content. "I just wish that George would talk about it without adding any forced jokes. I know he's trying to keep up to his usual self in front of mum but you can just tell he's trying hard not to show how all of this has affected him."

It was true, Bill's words. George would joke whenever anyone brought Fred into a conversation. It wasn't very hard to realize how forced his words were, though as much as he tried to believe otherwise. True that it satisfied Mrs. Weasley to hear George joke when many thought he never would, it still wasn't exactly the same as before.

"So you're the ones making all that noise?"

Ginny now stood above the Weasley boys, Charlie right next to her. She had her arms crossed loosely around her, but there was a small smile playing on her face. It was Charlie, however, that looked slightly irritated at the loss of sleep he was getting from the little "investigation."

"The three of you are keeping both of us awake with those laughs," muttered Charlie, rubbing his head tiredly.

"You reckon Fred would have pulled his underwear down to his ankles?" Bill then asked with a smirk, catching Charlie off guard with the comment as he quickly grabbed the top of the elastic band of his pant bottoms. When he realized they were all too far from reach, he relaxed and replaced the shocked look on his face with confusion; Ginny's expression was an exact match.

"He was rather sneaky, wasn't he?" Ron added after a few minutes of silence. "Both him and George, really. Didn't see half their jokes coming."

Charlie suddenly let out a small laugh as he sat next to Percy, also deciding against lying down on the grass. "Like the dragon dung in the mailbox, right Perce?" While the rest of the Weasleys snickered at the thought, Percy pierced his mouth shut in a thin line. He didn't feel the need to laugh at a joke that took weeks before the smell completely left. Ginny joined Bill on the ground, lightly playing with the grass as she spoke up.

"They promised to send me a Hogwarts toilet seat in their third year," She paused, fondly remembering the discussion. "I waited by the window in case I saw Errol carrying a toilet seat. Fred sent me a bunch of stuff from Zonkos though… that stuff would have got him into less trouble than destroying school property, I figured."

Zonkos was like a second home for both Fred and George. They got their entire beginner prank supplies from there before they were able to make up their own. Weasley Wizard Wheezes far succeeded Zonkos in the sense of available items, though of course never took the place of. Though, like other stores in Diagon Alley, it had been closed down for quite some time. Some of the stores were starting to reopen, but the twin's store remained empty and unused. No one knew whether or not it would open again, but if George went by what Fred would have wanted, the doors would be unlocked rather soon.

"Fred's jokes were never dangerous," Percy suddenly said. He had been quietly sitting, listening to his brothers' talk and found the urge to add his own input. "Maybe a few bruises and scratches here and there--"

"--Or growing warts painful enough to keep us from sitting on a broom for quite some time."

The Weasleys looked up and saw George, a small smile on his face, now taking a seat on the ground with the others and continued joking. "Trust me, hurting all of you hurt us more."

Bill gave a sad smile, though it went rather unnoticed as all eyes were on George. That, at least, was known.

"What?" George asked, not really wanting an answer as he joined everyone else by lying his back against on the ground. "Are all of you having a family moment? Cause you know how we – I, hate those."

It was hard for him to avoid saying "we." He did, however, understand that it would be "I" from now on.

"You remember… when we were younger, Fred almost got Ron to make an Unbreakable Vow?" Charlie spoke up from the ground, glancing over at George's knee, since it was the only thing he could see of his younger brother. Ron sat up suddenly, his face battling over whether he should be flushed at the memory or amused.

The latter showed.

"I almost did it too, you know!" He gave a smile shortly after. "Only time I saw dad so angry. I don't even want to know where Fred learned how to go through with one."

"We were nosy," George answered, smiling mischievously, "and went looking through mum and dad's desk drawers and found all of these information books. I think Fred made up half of that though, so you didn't have to start crying like a baby when you found out Ron." The smile still played on his lips, though he opted not to look over at the youngest of the brothers, who looked rather red behind the ears.

There was a silence that rarely graced the area where any Weasley stood. Usually there would be _someone_ talking, from Bills strict lectures, though less than any that came from their mother, or dragon talk from Charlie. Or there'd be cauldron talk from Percy while the twins would wreck havoc somewhere in the house, down to Ron, who would go on about Quiddich while Ginny would roll her eyes and mutter something about boys and sports. Not to mention the yelling that came from Mrs. Weasley when something went wrong, mainly due to whatever resulted from actions of the twins, to Mr. Weasley gently trying to calm her down. Having such a big family rarely resulted in quiet moments, but tonight, for once, silence struck each red headed figure.

It didn't last very long, though the spoken thoughts were welcomed...

"Are you going to open the shop again George?" Bill suddenly asked, a question that was on everyone's mind.

…Especially the welcomed thoughts that were on everyone's mind.

"Soon, I'm hoping," George answered quietly. He wanted to force out a joke, but none came. In his mind he heard suggestions of what Fred may have said, but kept them only to himself. "I mean, buying the building and all those products would be a waste if I just up and left."

"That's good news," Ginny said, excitement laced in her voice. "I'm low on ton-tounge toffies and edible Dark Marks."

"You better not be getting more of those!" Ron yelled, though rather quietly, but the seriousness in his voice showed loud enough. He huffed almost silently before lying back on the ground. "My tongue still hurts from the last time you gave me those toffies."

Ginny snorted. "That was an accident."

"That's not what you told me when you bought them," George smirked, putting his arms underneath his head to rid himself of the coming neck pains.

Ron pointed towards George, a look of accomplishment on his face, "Told you!"

"Don't sound so offended, I gave some to Percy and Charlie too."

"But we weren't as daft as Ron," Charlie added. "We pay close attention to the gifts we receive from any on you."

"Ahh, Fred would be very pleased that his invention was causing so much mayhem," George said above the small argument. They quieted down as he spoke, though accusations lingered in the air. "He thought it up after Percy became Head Boy a few years ago. You know...big head, big tongue. Fit pretty well, if you ask me."

There was a short pause before each Weasley, Percy included despite the comment, let out a roar of laughter. It wasn't as much for that single comment as it was for all the things Fred and George would do. Each prank, each letter home, each joke they uttered played through all the sibling's minds, making the laughter grow even more. It continued for quite some time before slowly dying out but not without leaving smiles on everyone's face.

"My throat's getting rather sore from this laughing. Not that I'm against it," Bill commented, smiling at all of his brothers and his sister.

"Here, this'll sooth your throat," George suddenly said, pulling out a piece of what looked like candy from his coat pocket. Though skeptical at first, Bill decided to let his suspicions pass as he placed the candy in his mouth. A few minutes passed silently until a very muffled sound of "GEORGE!" entered their ears.

George smiled widely, letting out a chuckle; it was Fred's last invention. Similar to ton-tongue toffies, the No-Noise Candies fiddled with the tongue, but instead of making it grow, the candy made it disappear. What better use would it be than using it on someone in this family?

"Our jokes were the result of each one of you," George then said with a smile. He looked over at Bill, who wanted to either start yelling at or laughing with George(he couldn't tell which though hoped for the latter), but was unable to from the lack of tongue. "Don't worry, it'll be back in a week. It would have been sooner but Fred hadn't worked out all the kinks on that one."

Bill let out a loud noise that, if his tongue were in tact, would have come out as something like "WHAT DO YOU MEAN A WEEK??"

Percy, letting himself stay silent and enjoy the conversations of his family, looked over each one of them. Their faces were red from laughter; no doubt his face matched. They were all lying down next to each other in the garden, the place where Fred would often spend his time while he was at home. Percy shook his head and decided to be even more part of the family, as he finally lied down on the grass by the others.

He may have said he was ashamed of his family, but as he soaked in each one of their words as well as Bill's muffled sounds, he knew there was nothing to be ashamed of. Fred had never felt that way and made the best out of every situation. He, along with his twin brother George, brought laughter to the family when times were hard. How could anyone be ashamed of that?

They were his family, and even though Fred had been taken away from them so early in life, there wasn't anything better than being a Weasley.

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Hope you liked this. Comments and thoughts?


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